


Last Men Standing

by Jocelyn



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Drift Compatibility, Gen, Physical Disability, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 14:34:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8987920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jocelyn/pseuds/Jocelyn
Summary: Hermann Gottlieb and Stacker Pentecost have both been sidelined from directly fighting this war, but their choices send others into danger.  After Newt Geiszler's kaiju drift and Gipsy Danger's disastrous test, Hermann and Stacker contemplate those choices and what sacrifices each of them is willing to make in the last days of war.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thegoddamnknightshade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegoddamnknightshade/gifts).



**Last Men Standing**

"YOU SHUT UP!" Hermann reared back in shock at the Marshal's shout.  Pentecost seemed to forget about him in an instant and turned back to Newton.  "You.  Keep talking."

“These beings, these masters,” Newton gasped.  “They're colonists.  They overtake worlds, they just consume them and then they move on to the next. And they've been here before in sort of a trial run.  It was the dinosaurs!  But the atmosphere wasn't conducive, right?  So they waited it out, and they waited it out, and now with ozone depletion, and carbon monoxide, polluted waters, well, we've practically terraformed it for them.  Because now they're coming back, and it's perfect.”

Hermann couldn’t decide whether Newton was reporting what he’d seen or just what his theory was.  Newton went on, “See, the first wave, that was just the hounds. Categories 1 through 4, it was nothing. Their sole purpose was to aim for the populated areas and to take out the vermin: us! The second wave, that is the exterminators, and they will finish the job. And then...the new tenants...will take possession. See, the reason that I found the identical DNA in the two separate kaiju organs is because they are grown!”

Much to Hermann’s despair, what Newton was saying was starting to fall into line with the increase in Breach events.  It no longer seemed nearly as impossible as Hermann had believed. 

“Newton,” said Marshal Pentecost.  “I need you to do it again.  I need more information.”

“I, I can't do it again,” said Newton, much to Hermann’s surprise (and relief).  “I mean, not unless you have  
a fresh kaiju brain lying around.”  Yet Pentecost didn’t seem deterred.  Newton blinked.  “Do you?

" - Stacker!" Hermann exploded.  That brought Pentecost up sharp.  Hermann had never addressed the Marshal so familiarly in all the time they'd known each other.  "You. Are. Going. To. Kill. Him."

Their eyes met.  Newton mumbled something about, "Gee, I didn't know you cared, Hermann,” but Hermann ignored him.  

To Hermann's further astonishment - and dismay - it was Pentecost who broke eye contact first.  "He knows the risks.  The choice is his."  He turned back to Newton.  "I'm not ordering it.  But I do need you to do it again."

Newton shot Hermann a smirk.  "I'm not scared."

* * *

  _Thirty minutes later…_

Hermann elbowed his way through the crowds in the corridors and quickly got wind of what had happened.  "Becket and Mori damn near blew us all away!"

When someone said it was Mori who had nearly discharged the plasma caster, Hermann winced.   _Oh dear.  Marshal Pentecost is going to be quite distressed._

 _"I'm sure you understand how important this moment is for me."_   Yes, Hermann understood that all too well.  

Not that Hermann intentionally gossiped, but the chatter among the crews was impossible to miss.  "Mori's grounded."

"Becket beat the shit out of Hansen Junior!"

" _Xiǎo bái liǎn_  had it coming."

"So who's Becket's partner?"

" _Wǒ bù zhīdào_."

"He's holding out for Mori - he actually chased the C.O. down the hall."

" _Wā sāi!_  I bet Marshal loved that."

"Yeah, Pentecost told him to shut up and do as he's told."

Hermann grimaced.  Stacker didn't seem to be in a receptive mood.  But after Newton had gone off to scour the bone slum for the kaiju parts dealer, Hermann dared to seek Pentecost out.  

The man stood at one of the narrow windows of his office, but Hermann doubted he was admiring the view.  Once the door had closed behind him, Hermann inquired, "How is young Mako?"

It was several moments before Stacker answered quietly, "As you might expect."

_Poor thing.  That moment wasn't only important to her father._

Stacker went on, "It was precisely what I feared would happen, especially with Raleigh Becket as a partner.  He blames himself, but it was undoubtedly both of them.  Too many open wounds for a safe drift."

Hermann frowned.  "You've not told her that, I hope."

"No, of course not.  It makes no difference now.  It's over, and I think at last she sees that."

Hermann sighed.  He didn't blame Stacker for feeling the way he did, and yet...his dismissiveness didn't sit well.  Especially not after what he'd sent Newton to do.  "Marshal, the war is not over.  You were willing to risk Newton's life to get the information you need."

As he expected, Stacker bristled, turning and glaring at him.  But it seemed he couldn't come up with a retort.  Rather than try to challenge the man outright (young Becket seemed to have learned to his cost how very bad an idea that was), Hermann said nothing more, and simply waited.

For the second time (quite possibly in all of their association that Hermann could recall), Stacker looked down.  "Last days of war, Hermann."

"I know.  And neither you nor I can fight as we'd like, so we take part as best we can."   _And watch our friends and loved ones fight and die, beyond our help._ "I disagreed with her at first, you know.  Having a child at a time like this."

Stacker thought very well of Vanessa.  "She's a grown woman.  She understands the risks."

"As does Mako.  She's grown too."  That got him a renewed scowl, but Hermann stood his ground.  "The crews are saying Becket won't hear of another partner."

"He'll have to accept it," said Stacker, turning to the window, but Hermann scoffed.

"My physical limitations may have held me back from the Jaeger Program, but I helped write those programs, Marshal.  No pilot has to accept any co-pilot if they don't wish to.   _Ever._ You've trained Rangers since the war began.  You know the result of reluctant partnerships, even among the ones who sincerely try."

Dedicated, strong men and women had tried and tried to succeed in a conn-pod together, but the results for those who didn't genuinely want to drift had been shaky at best.  Stacker sighed.  "I suppose you have an answer if I point to the Hansens."

Hermann smiled wryly.  "Men may lie. Numbers don't.  I've seen their numbers. They'd have the entire world believe they loathe each other.  Yet in the drift, they are perfect.  One of those impressions is a lie, and it's not the drift."

Stacker shook his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "That goes deeper than you may realize, Hermann.  I've drifted with Herc.  Hell, I'd probably be drift compatible with Chuck.  Their feelings about each other aren't a facade."

"No, not a facade, but men lie to themselves as well.  It's easier than admitting certain things." Hermann straightened and stepped off the ledge.  "Such as that your daughter is a woman now, and has a right to choose her own destiny, even the manner of death."  Stacker rounded on him, teeth bared, but Hermann saw what he hid behind his outrage:  he had flinched. "Last days of war, Marshal.  I'm not saying it to be unkind."   

Stacker faltered - then fished in his pocket for a handkerchief, only to discover that his nose wasn't bleeding after all.  He looked quite embarrassed at that.  Hermann politely pretended not to notice.  "It's unfair, isn't it?" Stacker finally mused, studying the cloth in his hand.  "That you and I can do nothing but watch?"

"Neither you nor I are doing 'nothing,'" Hermann retorted.  Then he sighed and conceded, "Though I admit, it feels like it often enough."

"Do you..." Stacker trailed off, as if he'd thought better of what he was about to ask.  Hermann waited.

"Last days of war," he prompted, with only a hint of irony.  He might dislike politics, promises, and poetry, but irony rarely escaped him.

Stacker smiled, but there was a bitterness to it.  No doubt he didn't miss much irony in the world either.  So he finished his question.  "Do you believe Becket would tolerate me as his co-pilot?"

It took several mental repetitions of that question for Hermann to wrap his mind around it, and all the implications.  "Good God.  Stacker..."

 _You'd kill yourself._ There was no way that Stacker could fail to know that.  "This..."  His mind pushed aside sentiments and sorrows and returned to where it worked best, the cold unfeeling numbers.  "Operation Pitfall requires hours just to get into position, even without combat.  The strain on you would be tremendous. Yes, I..." Pacing wasn't an easy thing for Hermann to do, but sometimes it was necessary to keep from going mad.  "I don't doubt you could manage to drift with nearly anyone; you've the broadest range of alignment and fewest triggers I've ever seen in the tests.  Whether Becket would accept you, I can't say, but...even if he did, if you don't make it to the drop point..."

And the variables all began to fall into place.  Raleigh Becket carried wounds of his own as a Ranger, Hermann knew that.  He was the one pilot who'd ever survived solo in a conn-pod for any length of time...apart from Stacker Pentecost.

"Good God," he murmured again.  "So it wasn't merely that the Jaeger in question was Gipsy Danger, was it?  This is your final gambit."  Stacker nodded.  "Does Mako know?" Stacker looked away again.  Hermann scowled.  "So you'll kill yourself and leave her to suffer rather than allow her the chance to do what she's trained to do?"  Stacker glowered at him.  "There's no cause for getting into a conn-pod yourself when there is another qualified co-pilot - _the_ qualified co-pilot.  No honest cause, anyway."   _You're lying to yourself, man._

This final stare-down might have gone on for quite awhile, if Stacker's comm hadn't gone off with an emergency alert.  " _Marshal!"_   It was Tendo Choi.

"Go ahead."

Choi was barely coherent with shock, and the man had been doing this for a long time.  " _Two - we've got two Breach signatures!  At the same time!  Two of them!_ "

Stacker looked sharply at Hermann as the outside world crashed back down on them.  

"The double event," Hermann whispered.   _Right on time._ There were times that he truly wished numbers did lie.   _God help us all._

" _Are we deploying, sir?"_ Choi asked, already regaining his composure as his mind retreated to battle instinct.

Stacker said nothing, and it dawned on Hermann that he wanted an opinion.   _I didn't tell him what would need to be done for this double event._ What was there to offer other than cold, heartless numbers?  "You realize, Marshal," he said quietly, their time for sentiment past.  "Every Jaeger you scramble to defend against these two kaiju is a Jaeger that may not be ready thereafter for the Breach."

Stacker listened with a grim expression that was all too common these days.  "Projected path?"

" _Running the numbers now...oh, shit.  Sorry, sir, it's just...they're headed straight for us._   _Projected path is good for Hong Kong.  Very good for Hong Kong...they're bearing west-northwest."_

"Both kaiju on the same heading?"

" _Yes, sir._ "

Hermann's heart sank.   _There are ten million people in this city._

Stacker's eyes met his.  "Understood.  Stand by for instructions."  He turned off his earpiece and said, "Recommendation, Dr. Gottlieb?"

Hermann already knew what the numbers would yield, but he ran his mind through them again anyway.   _If indeed we are the last men standing in the last days of war, to have any hope of winning it, then we have to make choices that defy all human sentiment.  Never mind that sentiment is what lets us remember that we're defending our wives, our children, our friends._ "We can do nothing with the Jaegers.  For the best chance at Operation Pitfall, the highest probability of success, then Hong Kong is on its own."  Yet somehow, between his mind and his lips, the words shifted into a challenge.   _What are you really prepared to sacrifice?_

The two men stared at each other.  And Hermann saw it before Stacker said it…indeed, Hermann predicted it. “All Jaegers on deck.  Prepare for deployment!”

 _In the last days of war, we both had best stop lying to ourselves.  There are some sacrifices no man can stomach even at this desperate hour._ Hermann was unsurprised that Mako and Raleigh arrived together.  Stacker kept shooting glances at the pair as he and Tendo gave their deployment instructions. 

Hermann wasn’t at all sorry that Stacker didn’t go with his “recommendation” to leave Hong Kong to its fate without the aid of the Jaegers.  _How could either of us have lived with ourselves?_ But in the end, he knew that before long, Stacker would have to face a choice almost as brutal:  let his daughter go into combat, or let millions more die.  Hermann held his tongue. Stacker had heard all that Hermann had to say about young Mako. 

And when Leatherback’s EMP disabled Striker Eureka and the Shatterdome, Hermann predicted again what Stacker’s choice would be:  the last option available, made by the last man standing.  Stacker stared after Mako long after she and young Becket had gone to suit up.  Hermann stood as close to the Marshal as he dared.  _We can’t protect everything or everyone.  Ironic that these choices are in our hands, yours and mine, when neither of us can successfully fight.  That’s what it really means to be the last man standing, to watch every friend and every loved one you’ve ever had go before you._

As young Mako crossed the bridge into the conn-pod, she paused and looked directly down into the darkened LOCCENT, where her father and Hermann remained.  _Godspeed, my dear.  I’ll look after him for you._

**~Fin~**

**Author's Note:**

> **Mandarin Chinese Translations:**
> 
> _Xiǎo bái liǎn_  – little white face boy
> 
>  _Wǒ bù zhīdào_ – I don’t know.
> 
>  _Wā sāi!_  - Wow!


End file.
